Coconut Cauliflower Chickpea Curry {Vegan}

Cauliflower is a seriously underappreciated vegetable. When it comes to fresh produce, we talk about eating the rainbow. Red, green, yellow, orange, blue … but who ever thinks about white? And yet, 1 cup of chopped cauliflower contains 85% of your daily vitamin C needs with only 27 calories. Who knew? As a member of the cruciferous vegetable family, cauliflower has also been linked to many health benefits, including cancer prevention and improved cardiovascular health. So to give the humble cauliflower a little more love, I decided to put together this coconut cauliflower chickpea curry.

We love to eat curry in our house. It is such a wonderfully healthy form of comfort food. It also lends itself well to being vegetarian or vegan. While we do eat meat, we try to keep it to a minimum. I guess you could call us reducetarians (yes that is a real word for people who are trying to eat less meat). Vegetables have such an excellent way of soaking up all the delicious curry flavors. And there are plenty of plant-based ways to add protein – lentils, beans, or in this case, chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

The great thing about this coconut cauliflower chickpea curry (besides the fact that it is healthy AND tasty) is that it is extremely easy to make. You just fry the onions, garlic, and ginger, add the spices and toast them for a minute, throw in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes, then add some coconut milk and spinach just before serving. Boom. Done. Delicious dinner ready. And if you hold back on the red pepper flakes a little, it is also suitable for children.

Ok so I am in the process of making this dish (my house smells so good right now!!!) I used Garam Masala but I am noticing it says may replace curry powder… I know this is a curry dish but there is no curry on the list… are my eyes playing tricks again? Anyone use curry powder?

Hi Kim,
It may be too late now, but I wanted to explain in case you make it again. What I meant was that you could use curry powder instead of garam masala if you don’t have any garam masala. Sorry for the confusion!
Esther

5 star cauliflower *******fabulous and yummy! Mine was a bit watery – in my haste, I added the coconut milk before the 25-30 minute simmer. I’m on a 30 day no grain/dairy elimination diet and wondered what I could used to thicken this up. Any suggestions as I can’t use cornstarch or what flour.

Just ate this! One of the best foods I’ve made in a while! Only thing I changed was I used about half a tub (from Costco) of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, rather than canned. Served on a bed of baked butternut squash and brown basmati rice. Oh my tummy is very happy!

I didn’t care for this. Even after doubling the spices and salt, it didn’t seem to have much flavor. No one at the potluck ate it either and I made a double batch, so I’ll be eating it for a while. I think I’m going to try adding something to give it some tang (lemon?) and more coconut milk. Wish me luck!

Hi Clare. I’m sorry you found this bland. It might just be a case of needing to add more salt. Sometimes, without enough salt, the other flavors just aren’t very strong. I try to limit salt in recipes for health reasons, but sometimes a recipe just needs a touch more to enhance the other flavors. Esther x

I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious! If you’re craving a warm vegan curry, definitely give this a shot! Super easy, tasty, and affordable. I cooked it without spinach because my boyfriend isn’t allowed to eat spinach with his kidney stone disease, but it was still top notch!

This is so easy to make and absolutely delicious! My husbands new favourite dinner! I also made it for some friends one of whom was a chef and they all raved about it!
I used curry powder instead of garam masala and I didn’t have turmeric so I put in smoked paprika instead. I also added green beans and pumpkin, and omitted the spinach. And I used the whole can of coconut milk. Yum! Thanks 🙂

I just made this – it’s sooooo yummy! I don’t like my curries too tomato-y so I cut that in half and added a little more water and was still good. I didn’t have fresh ginger or spinach but a bit of ginger powder and frozen spinach we’re still delish. Thank you so much!

Made this curry a couple of weeks back but didn’t have some of the spices and ran around to get them. I was all over the place when I made it so I didn’t get the spices right but it was still lovely. I have made it again today and have doubled the spices used two onions and a whole cauliflower. Added beans, chopped coriander and extra coconut milk. Fingers crossed, it looks great so I’m so looking forward it!

Made this last night, the sauce was delicious! I used curry powder instead and didn’t have any spinach so added a red pepper. Severed with brown rice. I was really happy with it considering I had no idea what we were having for dinner and it was even toddler approved! Thanks for sharing, this will definitely be something I make often.

I made this tonight, and oh boy was it delicious! I did tweak it a little though. I substituted vegetable stock for the water, probably tripled the spices after reading the other reviews, and also added some smoked paprika which brought out some amazing depth to the flavour. Thanks for sharing this recipe! I already can’t wait to make it again!

This was one of the best curry dishes I have had in a while. It is actually the recipe that has kick started my plan to eating more plant based foods. This gives me hope that I dont have to have meat in a fish for it to be delicious. PS: it’s even better the second day!